


Black Schwann

by leandra1709



Category: Tales of Vesperia
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24080410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leandra1709/pseuds/leandra1709
Summary: An AU of the events at Baction&Heracles, if Judith and Raven had a romantic relationship during that time.
Relationships: Judith/Raven (Tales of Vesperia)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Black Schwann

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rainbowkittyblossomwings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbowkittyblossomwings/gifts), [theguineapig3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theguineapig3/gifts).



> The title is super cheesy but that was all I could come up with. Forgive me

It did not shock Judith the first time she found out Raven's life force was powered by a blastia. She had always felt a strong connection to him, one that pulled her towards any blastia. Ba'ul had hinted that might be the case with Raven but was unsure of what type of blastia it was, and Judith trusted his instincts. 

She learned about it the night the group stayed in Myorzo. What started as an intimate conversation about their lives and what they wanted to do after their journey was finished, turned into a night of physical passion. It was then she pulled his shirt off and his blastia was exposed. She learned of his past, and never showed any expression on her face other than acceptance. They spent the rest of the night embracing, kissing, and eventually making love. The morning after, she could still smell him on her pillow. 

What she did not know, however, was that he was planning on disappearing, taking Estelle with him. She felt extreme betrayal, many thoughts crossing her mind. Was he done with her? Why Estelle? Why did he disappear... at all? Was she not good enough?

The group eventually made their way to the Shrine of Baction to rescue Estelle. They found her, along with Alexei, who quickly took his leave after luring Duke into the shrine and doing his business with the Dein Nomos. A platoon of soldiers marched up to fight the party, but someone new arrived and dismissed them, standing in front of the group. The man had his head down, hiding his face. Repede sensed something and started barking incessantly at him. 

All Judith had been thinking about up until now was Raven. And then, she heard his voice.

"...I guess there's no fooling the nose of a dog."

Flynn looked the man up and down, then his face darkened as he recognized who it was, "I... had a feeling this whole time and I wasn't sure, but... it really is you..." 

He pulled his blade out and held it out towards them, "Schwann Oltorain. First Captain of the Imperial Knights. Ready to do battle." 

His appearance was extremely different, as Captain Schwann. She wanted to run up and wrap her arms around him, but he... did not feel like the same Raven she bonded and built memories with. 

"It's you..." she said softly, a hint of pain in her voice. 

He looked at her and flinched slightly. Guilt flashed across his face for a second, until he composed himself. He turned away, not facing them, "I'm afraid this is the end of the line for you."

Everything around her turned into white noise, but she could see their mouths moving. The others had looks of betrayal on their faces. Yuri and Rita were yelling angrily at him. 

Schwann pulled his blade, prompting Yuri to call Flynn and Repede over to him. Karol, Rita, and Patty seemed to be in too much shock to move. Yuri looked over his shoulder and gestured to Judith as well. 

She hesitated a moment, then ran to Yuri's side and got into fighting stance. Again, Schwann flinched, but held his head high.

Staring directly at him, she spoke calmly, "I really hoped it would not have ever come to this."

He finally met her stare with his own, "I had hoped I would never have to fight a lady as beautiful as yourself."

Judith bit her lip from frustration, as Schwann lunged at Yuri, who blocked the swing before he got hit.

"Damnit, old man! Why? You played us this entire time?!" Yuri yelled, dodging each strike that was forced at him. 

"Raven, we don't want to fight you!" Karol cried out from the sidelines.

Judith quickly assessed where everyone stood and watched for patterns. When Schwann had his back to her, she quietly came up behind him. Yuri paused for a moment, glancing at her, which caused Schwann to look over his shoulder. He turned to face her, taking a step back instinctively.

"I can't believe you," she said as she pierced her spear towards him and swung, tearing part of his shirt open. The cut she made exposed the blastia on his chest.

"Wh-What the hell is that?!" Rita was the first one to speak up. She tentatively took a step forward, but Yuri waved his arm for her to stay back.

"Heh, I guess ya found out my big secret..."

"No way... Is that... a blastia?!" Rita yelled.

"Yep. I'm living on borrowed time, kid. Someone like me shouldn't even be alive right now. I should have died 10 years ago."

"So you kept a lot of things from us then," Yuri said, coldly. He had an icy glare directed at their old companion.

"I was hoping you would just take me down and end my life in this cursed body."

"No! We can't kill you! We won't!" Karol cried out, desperately looking at Yuri for approval.

"Unfortunately I don't really have any other choice. Alexei brought me back with this blastia when I died in the War, so this life right now... belongs to him." 

Judith gritted her teeth. She could not believe what he was saying to them. He was planning on being killed? But what about all the plans for the future they made together? Their life after all of this? He lied to her about everything...?

Yuri was silent for a few moments, then took a step back, "We won't kill you, old man."

"Huh...?"

"I don't believe for a minute that the anger you felt at the Don's death wasn't real. You looked up to him and his ideals. He said to live your life until the end. And you're just going to give up here?" 

Judith decided to speak up as well, "Are you going to let the Don's memory go to waste like that?"

"...Man, you guys are brutal. Ya know that?"

Judith felt relieved. A small piece of Raven was shining through. 

The shrine shook and everyone held their ground. Schwann glanced at Judith, who met his eyes. Was he worried about her falling? Her heart hurt remembering the time he grabbed her to keep her from falling at the Atherum. That felt like such a lifetime ago... 

"What's going on?" Karol asked, everyone turning to look at Schwann.

"That would be Alexei. He plans to bury you all down here."

"But... That's crazy! You're down here, too!"

"Since he got what he needed from Duke, he doesn't see a need to keep me around anymore. But you guys..." Schwann pulled out his bow and an explosive arrow, shooting a pile of rubble that would have blocked their escape. He gestured for them to leave, "Save yourselves."

"But what about you, Raven?" Karol ran to his side and peered up at him. His hair hid most of his dark expression.

"Like I said before... I'm living on borrowed time. I'm tired of this life. Don't worry about me. Get going!"

Karol opened his mouth to protest, as a large chunk of ceiling above him cracked and fell.

"Karol!" Yuri screamed, panicked. He and the others immediately ran to where Karol had been standing. "Wait..." Yuri uttered, looking up. 

Schwann had used the force of his blastia to keep the piece of ceiling from landing on Karol. It was floating above them. Schwann winced, "Hurry up, go! Don't make me die for nothing!"

Yuri grabbed Karol by the arm, running out of the shrine. The others followed suit, except for Judith. She stood in place, staring at Schwann with sadness in her eyes. 

"Come on, Judy. You need to leave before everything collapses," he groaned, struggling to keep the entrance open for her.

"I don't want to leave you."

"You need to. Don't worry about me."

"How can you say that to me?! Was everything we shared just a game to you?!" Something in her snapped and she lashed out.

"I... really wanted to be with you. I thought you cared about me. And now you're fine dying like this...?" Tears filled her eyes as she was unable to hold back anymore. 

Schwann said nothing as she cried softly. She finally turned her back on him and started to walk away, when he spoke up.

"You know... He really did want to spend his life with you."

She looked back at him, "What...?"

Before he could say anything more, the rest of the shrine collapsed. Judith leaped out of the way, tripping on debris and falling down. She rolled out of the way before another piece hit her. 

"Judy!" 

A familiar voice called out to her and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her out of the destruction. She looked up to see concern on Yuri's face.

"I thought we were about to lose you, too."

Judith stood up shakily, dusting herself off, "I'm fine. I just... had some final words for him." She said that, but she felt like she had more she wanted to say to him. Now she would never get the chance to tell him anything ever again. 

Yuri looked at the remains of the shrine, "I had some things I wanted to say to him. At least you were able to say what you needed to."

"...Yeah."

The duo walked down the path, returning to their friends. Everyone had relieved expressions on their faces, glad to see Judith was okay. Repede rubbed his nose against her hand and she patted his head. 

Once they were ready, they left to look for Estelle again. As everyone walked away from the shrine, Judith stayed back and took one final look at the ruins. She looked for any sign of movement, but there was nothing. She turned away and slowly walked behind the rest of the group. 

\--

The next destination was the ship, Heracles. By this point, Judith had made up her mind to fight with everything she had and make sure Estelle was safe. She knew things would never go back to how they were before Raven's death. She accepted the fact he was gone. 

Ba'ul tracked the ship down and got in close enough to let everyone off. As they were looking around the enormous vessel, Judith heard a footstep. 

"...Someone's here."

The three main members of the Schwann brigade, Leblanc, Adecor, and Boccos climbed the stairs in front of the group and stood in front of them. 

Yuri groaned, "Seriously, you guys again?"

Leblanc held his sword out, "This time we'll make sure you don't get out of here alive!" The two behind him yelled their agreement and pulled their blades out as well. 

Rita began summoning a fireball and snapped at them, "I'm getting really sick of seeing you Schwann brigade losers! You remind me of someone whose face I'm trying to forget!"

"And whose face might that be?" 

A familiar voice responded to her statement, shocking everyone to turn and look at who it was. 

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Rita immediately yelled, sounding slightly annoyed. 

Raven grinned at her, "Aw, what's wrong, kid? Aren't ya glad to see me?"

"Argh!" Rita blasted him with the fireball she had ready, knocking him down. 

"I guess I... deserved that..." Raven mumbled, then shakily stood up. He turned to his men and ordered them to keep watch. They saluted him and ran off, away from where the group was.

Yuri crossed his arms and had a neutral expression on his face, "I thought you died back there." 

"Well, ya see. Schwann Oltorain did. The person standin' in front of you now is Raven. Schwann won't ever be coming back again."

"You realize your life belongs to Brave Vesperia now."

"...Uh, say what now?"

Yuri lectured Raven about his actions and why he belonged to them. He looked at Karol for approval, who nodded in agreement. Judith stayed quiet, a small smile on her face. She was already part of Brave Vesperia. Now he belonged to her as well. 

After woefully agreeing to their terms, each person took a swing at Raven, knocking him down again. Judith's turn was up. She slowly walked over to him and held her hand out. 

"Thanks Judy-darlin', I knew you wouldn--"

He was cut off by her fist slamming into his face. She looked dainty, but she packed a hell of a punch. 

Raven fell over backwards and mumbled, "I... deserved that..."

Now that the others were far enough away, Judith felt free to speak her mind. She had a lot she needed to say to him. 

"You realize how angry I am with you, don't you?"

"Ah... Yeah..."

She took a deep breath to calm herself, then spoke again, "You left me after we shared everything to each other. Well, I thought we shared everything. Apparently there were secrets you were still keeping."

He tried to object, "I didn't have a choice--"

"Yes, you did! Do you really think I would have cared about you being Schwann? I would have helped you! I would have still loved you! ...I still... love you."

Raven sat up and leaned against the wall behind him, "I didn't want to get you involved with all that because I didn't want Alexei to hurt you."

"But you let him take Estelle. Now she's hurting."

That stung. He felt an immense wave of guilt wash over him. "Yeah, I... made a lot of really stupid decisions." He leaned forward and buried his face in his hands, "I need to make up for that. I need to make things right."

Judith stood above him, fist clenched. She observed him for a few moments.

"You can start with me."

Raven looked up at her, "Huh?"

"Your life belongs to Brave Vesperia now, and I am part of Brave Vesperia. Which means you belong to me."

He paused, "...You still want me around? After all this?"

She turned around, back towards him, "I never wanted you to leave. You should have known that."

His face became a bit flushed and he stammered, "I mean... I know you like me as Raven. But I didn't know if you'd like Schwann."

Judith sat in front of him and leaned close, putting her hand on his face, "I told you before I accept you for everything you are. You accepted me."

"I guess I'm just... a big idiot, huh?"

She laughed softly, "Yes, that might be true, but I hope you'll stay as my idiot." 

Before he could respond, she placed her lips on his and kissed him deeply. He wrapped his arms around her thin body and pulled her in closely. He could feel her heart beating against his chest, and she could feel his blastia pulsing. 

When they pulled away, he whispered in her ear, "I was an idiot for ever leaving and think I could live without you."


End file.
